A Few Years Early
by BlackenedHearts
Summary: The White Fang. Once a peaceful group of faunus protesters, but in more recent years they have grown violent and radical. What would have happened though if they had tried something just a little bit earlier? An attack on the Schnee Company has its consequences, and a certain young Schnee and cat faunus meet a few years early. Pre-series AU (11 years old), no romance.
1. New Beginnings

**Author's Note**

**What's this? A chaptered story from me that is actually going to have a linear continuous storyline? Shocking, I know. Sorry that it's been like a month since I last posted something.**

**This story is based off of a series of pictures (links in profile) from my friend Angie on tumblr (weissrabbit) featuring a younger Weiss and Blake. While they are the same age, Weiss is tiny and appears younger than she actually is. Just like tiny little canon Weiss. The story starts off a little darkish, but it gets happier. They're kids, so no romance. It'll be more sisterly than anything else.**

**The first few chapters are mostly just setting things up so I can get them away from the Schnee family and the White Fang. Not entirely sure how long this story will run for since I haven't actually written a true multi chapter story before. I do have some events I want to hit in the middle and an ending already in mind, plus vague ideas in between. Currently looking at maybe 20ish chapters? It's not a short story, but it's not a terribly long one either. Though with how slow I write, it might take take a while.**

* * *

**Chapter 1 - New Beginnings**

The young Weiss Schnee felt rather uncertain and perhaps a tad frightened right now. Never before had the eleven-year-old girl seen her father in such an exceptionally poor mood before. Admittedly he was never much in a _good_ mood, not in recent years anyway, but seeing him lose his composure to such an extent was new.

Weiss and her father were presently residing at one of the many Schnee mansions spread around Vytal. It was not the main family home that Weiss spent the most time at, but it mattered little in the end. She rarely ever got to leave the grounds of wherever she was currently staying at, so at least getting to see the insides of a different building was a little refreshing.

The Schnees had come to this area a week ago for the elder of the two to check in on some matter involving a branch of his company that he had to see to in person. Earlier today though the Schnee patriarch had returned home unexpectedly early from his business. Seething, he had stormed in raging about "Those damned animals", and "Uppity mongrels". For those familiar with his manner of speaking, or some of his views, it wasn't too hard to extrapolate who or what had managed to earn his ire at this time. Without needing instruction, Weiss had retreated to her bedroom. It was best to stay out of her father's way at times like this.

As her father raged, she waited alone in her room. After a few minutes of shouting everything had gone silent after the loud slam of a door. Still though, Weiss remained within her bedroom. There was no particular reason to leave it, it's not as if she had any great reason to be in one part of the manor over another. She did not have any lessons scheduled for today, and playing by herself in her bedroom would be the same as playing by herself elsewhere. Even here in a building she visited perhaps once a year the bedroom of the Schnee heiress was filled with all the material possessions a girl her age could possibly want. And at least here she wouldn't be getting in anyone's way.

The minutes had dragged on and turned into hours. Weiss had been expecting a servant to come and get her at some point, for dinner if nothing else, but none ever had. Looking out the window the sky had turned dark some time ago already. She had only eaten a small lunch, and that was quite a while ago already at this point. Feeling rather hungry at this point the girl finally risked leaving her room on her own.

The first thing she noted was that the halls were dark and empty. That was unusual. Normally servants of some sort around the premises of the Schnee property at nearly all hours. Perhaps they too had decided it was best to stay out of the way of her father. It made the empty building feeling even lonelier than normal. Weiss decided to make her way towards the kitchen. Hopefully one of the kitchen staff was still around to make her a dinner.

As she headed towards her destination Weiss finally caught glimpse of other human presence within the building other than herself, a couple of security guards on patrol. She did not approach them. While most of the mansion's servants were rather distant, they at least responded to her politely and respectfully. The security staff on the other hand took distant to another level entirely.

The guards rarely ever spoke or expressed any emotion. Remaining utmost professional they tended to act more like an automaton than human. Responding solely to the orders of the senior Schnee, the only times they interacted with the heiress were on his instruction. Most often they ended up as almost glorified prison guards, keeping Weiss constantly under watch and penned in. It was understandable that the young girl found them rather intimidating at best.

Upon entering the darkened kitchen Weiss was disappointed to find no trace of any cooks. A quick survey of the room found no prepared meals either. Unfortunately for the hungry girl access to the pantry and refrigerators was restricted and she did not have access. There was a lot of security around the Schnee property, almost bordering on absurd over just how many things were under lock and key. This was owed to Mr. Schnee's controlling tendencies which tended towards excessive.

In this case it was because Mr. Schnee did not want his daughter spoiling her appetite outside of her meals. There was no particular reason for this, Weiss was neither a glutton nor an unhealthy eater, and her father rarely deigned to eat with her at mealtimes so it is not like it particularly mattered when she ate anyway. It was simply another result of his incessant need for control. Something which spread over most other aspects of his daughter's life as well.

Regardless, even if Weiss did have access to the food, it would have done little for her right now. The Schnee did not have any such mundane things as prepackaged or ready to eat foods. Everything was specifically prepared on the spot from scratch by a chef. The only things she would have found were raw ingredients, and the heiress had never been taught to cook. It was after all something considered beneath her station in life.

Right now she was hungry enough to have easily settled for the cooking of any of the other servants aside from the kitchen staff, but they were all equally as scarce. Since the only other people around were the guards who were unlikely to prepare a meal for her without being directly ordered to, that only left one other adult in the building. Her father.

A short while later Weiss found herself outside her father's study looking up at the imposing set of doors. Stationed on either side of the entrance was a pair of guards staring impassively forward, still as statues. For a moment Weiss found herself looking nervously up at them but neither of them even so much as acknowledged her presence. Steeling herself she went up to the door and when neither of them moved to stop her she pushed forward.

"Father...?" Weiss called out softly peeking her head into the room between the doors. The room was darkened with the only light being what little moonlight made it past the closed curtains. She could only just manage to see her father's silhouette behind his desk.

There was a brief pause and then she saw him move followed by the sound of a glass settling back down upon her father's desk. After that another moment of silence followed which only caused Weiss's nervousness to grow.

"Well?" her father demanded angrily. "What is it that you want? Get in here girl and say it properly!" He slammed a hand on his desk in emphasis.

Weiss flinched at the sudden anger and noise, beginning to question if coming here during her father's current mood was really the best idea. Nevertheless she was encouraged that he had at least acknowledged her and hurried to comply. Moving fully into the room, she shut the door behind her.

Now in front of her father she made sure to stand straight. Schnees did not slouch, Schnees did not cower. She took only a moment to take in her father's appearance, noting an unusually dishevelled look. His hair was messy, eyes slightly bloodshot, and the normally pristine suit and tie were partially undone and wrinkled. If Weiss were closer, or had a better sense of smell, the smell of alcohol would have been fairly prominent. Her time spent inspecting before she spoke was short though. It would be best to be prompt.

"I am hungry father."

He scoffed almost immediately, before she had time to elaborate on her statement. "Why are you here bothering me? We have cooks for a reason." The man picked up a nearly empty bottle from his desk and began to pour himself another drink.

"There are no cooks or any other servants present right now father," his daughter explained, a bit of nervousness showing through.

Her father's face twisted into another frown as he began to retort before pausing. It had taken a moment through his mental haze for the master of the household to realize that it was he himself who had dismissed all the servants earlier, and that thus it was technically his own fault the girl was bothering him now about being hungry. That did not mean he had the patience or inclination right now to be fair or reasonable about it though.

"Get out."

"What? But father-!" Weiss began to protest.

"Was I unclear? I have no time for your petty problems. I said _get out_!" he shouted angrily. To emphasize his point he grabbed the closest object to his person and hurled it at the door next to the girl.

Unfortunately for the both of them, the now empty bottle of liquor was what happened to be the closest thing resting to his hand. Leaving his hand it sailed forward only narrowly missing Weiss's head as she instinctively flinched away. Just because it did not hit Weiss though didn't mean that it would not just strike something else. A split second later it collided loudly with the door and shattered.

Eyes closed from flinching Weiss cried out at the sudden noise of the bottle being smashed. A moment later she felt a sharp pain across her left eye and the girl's cry turned into a scream. Stumbling a few steps to the side she could feel something wet as she clutched at her injured eye with her left hand. Reaching out to the right her fingers brushed against something and she tried to steady herself against it. It was not to be though as her hand slipped off the smooth surface causing Weiss to lose her balance.

With another crash of shattering glass the disoriented girl fell over, smashing through the surface of the small glass table. Gravity not failing to make sure she continued her downward fall it quickly brought Weiss to the inevitable conclusion of her on the ground, lying amidst the broken glass. As she was wearing a sleeveless dress, when she shifted painfully on the ground her bare arms quickly became adorned with a multitude of small cuts, tinging the edges of the glass shards with red.

There was a short moment of stunned silence from the two parties for the shortest instant following the preceding chaos. It was broken by a pained whimper from the floor and the sounds of the doors slamming open as the two guards came in.

"You _stupid_ girl!" snarled Mr. Schnee as he stood in his seat. "I want you out of my sight already you pitiful disgrace. Now pick your worthless self up and _get out of this house_!"

Weiss wasted no time in following his order. With only the slightest care spent not to place her hands upon glass she pushed herself up with another whimper as the glass now bit into the skin of her legs. A small mercy was that within the expanse Schnee mansion it was practical to have footwear on as opposed to the barefoot policy most people had within their smaller homes. It meant now that when Weiss stood, it was with her sandals upon the glass rather than her bare feet.

"_NOW!_"

At her father's shout Weiss let out another whimper, this time of fear. The injured girl made haste in reorienting herself once back on her feet turning towards the doorway. Still not letting go of her eye she stumbled towards the open doorway, desperate to get out.

As Weiss exited the room she just barely managed to catch one last sneering comment from her father. "Pathetic. Utterly unworthy of the Schee name."

Hearing the hurtful comment the young girl's pace quickened into a painful run, wanting to just _get away_ as fast as she could without looking back. Back in the room with Mr. Schnee neither of the guards had reacted to the scene they witnessed at all. No movements were made to stop her, nor any questions or protests given to their employer as to his actions.

By the time Weiss had reached the front doors of the building a stinging in her eyes as a result of tears now accompanied the stinging pain from the various cuts she had received all over her body. Once she had cleared the doorway her near sprinting pace slowed down to a walk as tears began to wash down her face.

Weiss was hurting right now. The cuts on her arms and legs stung and every movement made her wince internally. Over her left eye the wound there was worse than any other on her body as blood steadily flowed out. More so though the wounds not so readily apparent on the outside were the ones that perhaps pained the young girl the most.

_'Father is just in a bad mood'_ was what Weiss thought to herself. That had to be it. He wasn't angry at her, not specifically at least. This was not something he would have done under normal circumstances, but rather the events earlier today had helped set him off. She had just come in at a bad time. Once her father had calmed down though she was sure that he'd apologize and make it up to her. He always did.

Even as Weiss's wounds bled and her left hand grew slick with the red of her blood she tried to tell herself that things would be okay. Her body shook and trembled but she continued to rationalize. Quiet sniffles quickly turned into wracking sobs, barely managing to grasp for breath. Yet all she did was make excuses for her father's behaviour.

The pain of her injuries dulled Weiss's senses, and her thoughts took her focus. Even if not for those things though, she still would not likely have noticed what would happen next. Her life may not have been as perfect as most would have thought, but there was no denying that it was sheltered. As a girl who had lived most of her eleven years of life within private Schnee property surrounded by guards and trusted staff, true danger to her personal being was something Weiss was not particularly familiar with.

She never even heard a sound as her world quickly faded to black.

* * *

Most young girls would not have been comfortable being alone in this area of town late at night. Most young girls were also not Blake Belladonna. The cat faunus was no stranger to the rougher side of things in life. Years of living on her own had ensured that.

Silently the raven haired girl strode down the dimly illuminated streets, just another shadow amongst the darkness. Only a small crescent the shattered moon gazed down from the sky tonight. Lamps lining the street were sparse at best, and many were either dim or flickering. There wasn't much room in the town's budget for maintenance in the slums. Luckily for Blake her faunus heritage meant that the level of light present was more than enough.

As to why she was out here, well, that would be because this was where the local headquarters of the White Fang was stationed. The term "headquarters" was used rather loosely though, as the protest group was hardly large enough to necessitate such a thing. Really it was just an abandoned warehouse at the edge of town where some of the local members would occasionally meet up.

Blake spent more time there than most as she really didn't have anywhere better to be more often than not. There usually weren't very many people there, if any, but what few did come by this area were of course other faunus. It was nice sometimes to be around others like her, a place where she didn't have to hide what she was for fear of scorn. The reason why Blake was going there right now though was because she had accidentally left something behind when she had left earlier in the day.

She supposed that she could have waited until the morning to go back for it. Most probably would have. Blake rather enjoyed the occasional late night walk though, perhaps it was just in her nature as a cat faunus. The denizens of these areas tended to recognize each other as well and refrain from bothering one another, so it was unlikely she would be accosted. Being visibly armed of course helped with that as well.

The side door to the building creaked, loudly echoing through the empty building as Blake slowly pushed it open. They didn't bother with any locks as there wasn't anything inside worth stealing anyway. It was even darker inside the building than it was outside, but even the minute amounts of light coming through the grimy windows was adequate for the faunus.

"Here it is," Blake murmured quietly to herself.

Right where she had left it on the table in the kitchen was her backpack. Sometimes some of the more fortunate members of the White Fang community would stock up the kitchen a bit with food. Blake had been making herself a bit of a snack earlier in the day and had taken it off for a bit. Evidently she had forgotten to put it back on.

With a small grunt Blake hefted it up with one arm, swinging it onto her back. While not exactly heavy, it wasn't light either. While there were a few places that Blake might return to fairly often, there wasn't a singular location she called home. Anything important or useful to her was typically carried around with her at all times.

As Blake went to leave the building though she frowned as her ears twitched. Pausing in her step she turned her head and listened closer.

"People...?"

There were others coming to the base. More than one. Rather unusual given the time. Just faintly she was able to hear their approach. It was a little odd, the girl hadn't been expecting anyone else to be present. But considering that she herself was there for perfectly innocent reasons it wasn't too strange. It's not like she had any more right to be there than anyone else, there was no reason that other faunus couldn't be there as well.

Blake continued walking. It wasn't really any of her business if others chose to spend their time at night out rather than sleeping as well. It might be nice having some company actually. Unfortunately it would not be pleasant company however as she would soon find out after stepping foot outside.

Immediately upon stepping outside the first thing Blake saw was a man's torso, which she only just managed to stop herself in time from walking into. Looking up she found a rather unpleasant smile looking down at her. Said smile which was really more of a baring of teeth which belonged to a rather rough looking wolf faunus. Shaggy dark grey hair adorned his head with streaks of blood red mixed in, and peeking out the top was a pair of canine ears with one looking rather chewed on.

The most defining features of his face were a set of scars upon his face. Across his left cheek just barely below his eye was a trio of jagged lines, likely from claws. They suited the man rather well. Upon his other cheek was a much neater looking scar, a solid circle with three small triangular marks above it. It's appearance would suggest that it had been deliberately branded into his face at some point.

"Fenris Bloodclaw," Blake said in surprise, naming the other faunus.

"Oh?" He responded curiously. "I see my reputation precedes me." His eyes flicked towards Blake's ears. "What's a little kitten like you doing here this late at night?"

His reputation definitely was something well known to Blake, he was rather infamous after all. Fenris Bloodclaw, a descendant of one of the most vicious and bloodthirsty bloodlines known to Vytal. A bloodline that was rather unfortunately faunus, and Fenris was a descendant that his ancestors likely would have been quite proud of.

Blake hated him.

It was faunus like him that managed to set back human-faunus relations back years seemingly every time he did anything. Hate for hate, blood for blood, he was the type of person that used violence to achieve his ends. As much as it managed to achieve goals in the short term, humans and faunus could never reach true understanding through those kinds of methods. People didn't respect him. They merely feared him.

There was a short pause as Blake had mentally reviewed what she knew about the man in front of her. The smile, if it could be called that, on Fenris faded as he was left waiting for an answer. Blake knew that he was dangerous person, and by all rights she should be careful in what she said to him. Nevertheless, the cat faunus had hardly ever been one to be easily cowed.

"I was getting my pack," Blake replied thumbing one of the straps on her shoulder. "I left it behind in the afternoon." Although she spoke evenly, trying not to let her distaste for him show through, the look on the girl's face could only be described as a glare.

Fenris studied her for a moment with a small frown, noting both the backpack she indicated as well as the look she was sending him. With a short bark of laughter his lips spread into another toothy grin. "You've got spunk kid. I like that," said Fenris reaching out with one hand to muss up Blake's hair. She just glared harder in response. "Why don't you run along home now though? This is hardly the place for someone like you at this time."

At his dismissal Blake quickly scurried off, eager to get away from him. She knew how to pick her battles. Unnecessarily spending time with someone like Fenris and inevitably butting heads was not a smart idea. Running down the street her footsteps were silent with how light she was on her feet. All the way down the road though she felt eyes tracking her every movement as she left.

After moving far enough away down the street and ducking into an alley the feeling of being watched faded from Blake's senses. At this sign she came to an abrupt stop. That encounter had been suspicious. She had heard others talking before bumping into the Bloodclaw outside the door, of that she was certain. Yet Blake had seen neither hide nor hair of them, not while speaking to the wolf faunus, nor while she was leaving. It also felt like they were paying far too much attention to her, as if to make sure she really was going to leave. They had been hiding, but why?

Whatever reasons they had, it probably didn't involve her given how quickly Fenris had gotten rid of her, and how easily he had just let her go. Nevertheless though the situation made her uneasy. Blake was sure that anything involving Fenris could not possibly be good. Her mind made up, the cat faunus immediately turned around and headed back towards the building she had just left.

Small and dressed in darker colours it would be hard enough to spot Blake just because of those reasons given the poor lighting. Even more than that though the girl slunk through the shadows with great skill. With the silent manner in which she moved as well, Blake may as well have been a ghost for all the ability of the average person to find her. The only truly noticeable part of her was the glow of yellow eyes from the small amounts of light reflecting off of them.

Having made her way onto the rooftops Blake arrived a few buildings over from the warehouse just in time to witness something. Several darkened shapes, perhaps three or four people, were now surrounding the headquarters looking rather suspicious in their movements with often and rapid checks of their surroundings. They were acting as lookouts. Blake heard a few hushed whispers between them but couldn't quite make out any actual words.

From what she could see Blake thought she could vaguely recognize a few of them. Members of the White Fang. Not anybody she was particularly close to or familiar with, but rather a face she might have seen at a rally or two or the occasional voice heard around at an event. Seeing this many people at such an odd place and time with Fenris of all people set Blake on edge. Her instincts were proven correct just a moment later as three other figures appeared in her sights.

The two on either side were both adult faunus, just like the others. Walking in the middle though the person there was quite different, a small white haired human girl. Even from this distance Blake was able to tell that something was obviously wrong. She appeared to be in a noticeable amount of distress.

Though she couldn't quite make out the girl's expression from this distance, there were visible tremors in her form and a shake to her steps. Sharp eyes managed to just barely make out what appeared to be bandages covering an eye, and what appeared to be spots of blood on her limbs and clothes. The adults on either side of her were obviously guards given how they seemed to be roughly leading the girl who followed rather reluctantly but without struggle. A prisoner.

Blake barely managed to restrain a hiss. What were they doing? From the looks of it that girl couldn't have been any older than her, perhaps even a couple of years younger. She looked like she was nine, maybe eight. What were members of the White Fang doing with her? This was _not_ how the group was supposed to operate.

She doubted it was any common crime, Fenris wasn't the type that would stoop that low. He might have been a bit of a thug in how he handled things, but he was no petty street criminal. It had to be something more high profile. A kidnapping perhaps? Perhaps the little girl had some important family members.

Frankly speaking it wasn't really any of Blake's business, and if she were smart she would turn back around and leave now. Given who was involved she was likely to get hurt if she stuck her nose into things, but you know what they said about curiosity and the cat. Blake also had an unfortunately active conscience, and this wasn't something she could just leave along after witnessing. This was not the kind of thing the White Fang was meant to stand for. She couldn't just leave that human girl to the tender mercies of a Bloodclaw.

Blake's mind was made up. She would have to sneak in and rescue her.

* * *

**Author's Note**

**Mr. Schnee probably won't make many appearances (if any) for the rest of the story. Fenris might show up a couple times as an antagonist, but not very often either. It'll mostly be Weiss and Blake. Any OCs won't be too important. Ruby and Yang are planned to be introduced later on and will get decent screentime, but not as much as Weiss and Blake. Members from Team JNPR might make small cameos, but not much more.**

**Now, Dear Papa Schnee here actually did not intend to hit Weiss with the bottle. He's an angry drunk with poor impulse control and apparently bad aim. Normally he's either ignoring Weiss or emotionally abusing her rather than physically abusing her (It would be bad for his image if it got out that he hit his daughter). Then he just buys her a new pony or something and has a servant pass on an insincere apology for him like that makes everything better. He wasn't actually trying to disown Weiss or anything here either, or intentionally kicking her out of the house. He's probably gonna regret that a bit in the morning when he can't find her.**

**No promises on any kind of update schedule, or chapter length. I would advise not to get your hopes up.**


	2. Meetings

**Author's Note**

**A bit of a lukewarm reception to chapter one, but since they actually meet here, I hope this goes a bit better. The ending parts of this chapter draw a bit more heavily from some of Angie's pictures. Pictures which you should go look at.**

* * *

**Chapter 2 - Meetings**

Blake spent a few hours staking out the building before she made her move. It hadn't taken too long before Fenris himself had left the premises. Over the next couple of hours the lookouts first retreated into the base, and then a little while later left the area entirely. There had been one close call when one had doubled back, returning to the building for a moment. Blake had left her hiding spot to scope the area out, only narrowly managing to hide herself again when she heard them coming back. Eventually that person had left again, leaving only the two that had been leading the girl inside the warehouse.

The observing cat faunus had waited a while longer to see if they would leave as well, but after another hour it did not seem likely that they would leave the girl alone. Blake had eventually decided that it wasn't worth waiting any longer for them to leave. Who knew what they intended to do with the human, or if they were going to relocate her soon? If she wanted to do something about it, this was probably the best chance she was going to get.

Still, two people was far better odds than the larger group beforehand. Without having to worry about running into so many people it was child's play for the cat faunus to sneak in. As quiet as she was naturally, when Blake actually put her mind to it she was practically a ghost.

Now, the first order of business was to actually get inside without being noticed. Given the generally neglected state of the building all of the doors had a tendency to squeak rather horribly, not just the one she had used earlier. As such, a different method of entry had to be taken.

Bringing her hand to her waist Blake unbuckled her weapon from where it hung, leaving the sheath on. It was a simple enough blade, a short dagger with a backwards curving guard. The most interesting part would be the long black ribbon attached to the hilt. Taking the ribbon in one hand about a foot away from the dagger Blake began swinging it in a circle, the sheathed weapon quickly picking up momentum.

Narrowing her eyes in concentration Blake threw the dagger up, the black ribbon following behind it like an inky trail tracing it's path through the air. Her aim proved true as the thrown weapon soared just over a protruding pipe from the wall of the building. On it's downward arc the ribbon caught on the pipe and the momentum of the dagger caused it to wind around the pipe. With a sharp tug of the ribbon Blake secured the curved guard onto the pipe, like a makeshift grappling hook. After testing its strength with another couple of pulls Blake grabbed the ribbon and began to nimbly rappel up the wall.

Blake's current target was the window next to where her weapon was now tied. Just like the doors there was no lock on it at all and could easily be opened from the outside. If they didn't see the point in fixing the locks of any of the doors, why would they bother with a lock on a second story window? Within a matter of seconds Blake found herself touching down on the floor within the building's second story.

Now inside Blake waited for a moment, straining her ears to try and hear where the others in the building might be. A low murmur of conversation could be heard from the first floor so that's where Blake quietly crept towards. Towards the hallway from where the sounds came, a dim light also illuminated the area, casting long shadows everywhere it was able to reach. Carefully approaching so as not to step into the light or make a sound Blake got closer to hear the conversation between the two guards.

"I still think this is a bit much," a male voice said. Quiet as he may have spoken, the emptiness of the building lent itself well to carrying his words.

"You know who her father is. What he does." The second speaker, a female, only sounded slightly more sure than the first. "Did you get a look at her? If you ask me, she's probably better off anyway."

"Still, she's just a kid," the man grumbled again. "Don't get me wrong, I'll do it. I don't plan on backing out now. Doesn't mean I have to like it though, and I know you don't either."

Even without context Blake was smart enough to start connecting dots in her mind. Whatever these two were planning, or had already done, was not good. Given the tone of the conversation, and when and where it was taking place, it likely wasn't going to be legal either. From what she heard though, Blake could at least confirm her theory of the younger girl being kidnapped because of something involving her family.

"Like it or not, Fenris gets results. You saw what he did earlier. It was violent, true, but it got results. Results we don't get from all this useless protesting." The woman's voice picked up a bit more steam, some surety. "People like him are what the White Fang need. Times are changing, and the White Fang needs to change too."

Though Blake couldn't see them she could hear the man shift in position through the ruffling of his clothing. He let out a sigh followed by a noncommittal grunt but offered no verbal response as they lapsed into silence. She lingered for a moment but when the conversation did not continue Blake slinked away.

If Blake's nails had been a bit sharper they might have actually managed to draw blood with how hard they were clenched. She managed to suppress the growl but her lips still twisted into a fierce scowl. It was hard to believe that people could just so easily be suckered into Fenris's way of thinking.

Blake's urge to stomp angrily away was perhaps a bit childish, especially given the situation. The knowledge that she would soon be ruining some of their plans gave the girl a sense of somewhat grim satisfaction though. Somehow she doubted that Fenris took kindly to failure.

She knew another way into and out of the room aside from the guarded door. Blake was fairly certain that it was something that the other faunus had likely not taken into account. In order to use it though, she would need a bit of a distraction first. And so, she headed towards the basement.

Several minutes later found Blake by the distraction she intended to use. The building's furnace.

Most advanced systems of any kind in the world of Remnant were, or at least could be, powered by Dust. This furnace was no exception. While normally most buildings would be hooked up to the municipal power grids and would use that, it wasn't exactly like anybody had been paying bills for this place. In lieu of its standard power source, the White Fang members had been powering the heating systems for the building through the use of fire type dust crystals.

Again, it wasn't like any of the members made regular investments for the upkeep of that either. The current dust crystal powering the furnace which Blake had just removed was rather worn down and dull. It wasn't quite totally drained just yet, and because of that the furnace tended to start and stop a lot randomly. Searching through her pack Blake's hand came back out with several small but bright shards of crystallized fire Dust.

In terms of quality these particular crystals were not very good. Their small size also meant that they had little practical use for most people. Not pure enough to be worth making into a powder form, and not large enough to serve as a reliable power source for very long. Often at Dust stores they would discard such things as trash not worth selling. Beggars couldn't always be choosers though, so Blake took what she could get.

Inserting a few of these smaller but charged pieces into the place the drained larger crystal once occupied the furnace quickly began to hum to life. They wouldn't last long, a couple of hours at best, but that was all the time she needed. As the air flow began to travel again through the ducts, noisy rattling soon filled the building. Blake smiled.

"Perfect."

* * *

She didn't know how everything could have gone so wrong so quickly.

While Weiss had not always been completely _happy_ with her life, she had been content. It was safe, she was taken care of, and had her every need seen to. It was not a bad way of life really, certainly better than many. The Schnee heiress did not have anything she found to be worth complaining about.

Here now though she was alone, and afraid. Cast out by her father Weiss hadn't even had time for the tears to dry before she had been kidnapped. Like salt in a fresh wound. It wasn't like the possibility had never been brought up before as she had been the heiress. She just never thought it would actually happen. Not with how many people would have been standing between her and any potential assailants on a normal day. Of what she had heard them saying, her capture was definitely because of her status as heiress, aided by the convenient scarcity of people on the grounds as compared to normal.

After awakening on the way here from whatever method was originally used to render her unconscious, it hadn't taken long for the kidnapped girl to notice something. Her captors were all faunus. Weiss did not actually know much about them and truthfully had little personal experience with faunus. From what the things her father has said though, she felt that she should not be surprised.

A dull throb had her left hand reaching up to cup the bandaged part of her face again with her left hand. Sniffling, Weiss brought up her other hand to rub at her one good eye. They at least had the decency to bandage the larger cut on her face. It did not seem to be out of kindness though as one of them had muttered about bloodloss and her being poor bargaining material if she were too damaged.

While the eye wound had been seen to, the smaller cuts across her limbs had been left alone. Having little else to do with her time Weiss had taken to inspecting her wounds every few minutes. Thankfully, they actually weren't too deep, many only just broke past the skin. As such, most had actually stopped bleeding by this point as the blood had clotted, forming a natural seal. That didn't mean they didn't still hurt.

It could have been worse. At least there hadn't been any glass shards embedded, not any that Weiss could see or feel at any rate. Having little knowledge of wound treatment beyond the application of a bandaid, there was little she could really have done on her own. Especially since she did not even have access to bandaids right now.

Lowering her arm she wrapped it back around her legs, shrinking in on herself huddled up in the corner. The heat had rumbled on a few minutes ago with the noisy clattering of the air ducts rather audible in the building but Weiss still had to suppress another shiver. Her dress was rather thin, and did not at all provide enough warmth in this place.

How long had she been here for? Hours at least. Here in the dead of the night, outnumbered, outmatched, no one to help her, and nothing she could do herself, Weiss was completely at the mercy of her captors. She could only hope that they didn't intend her harm.

Weiss hoped that somebody would come for her. She wished that her father would come to bring her home. To apologize. But for every wish there was the dark voice that whispered in the back of her mind, the despair coming to drown out all else.

If no one came for her, if her father truly didn't want her back, what would happen to her? Beyond her father's company and her own connection to it and him, what other use was she to these faunus And if her father did come for her, was she really any better off? At least these faunus hadn't actually hurt her yet.

Initially when she heard the sound Weiss thought it was just more clattering from the ventilation system. When the girl caught a flicker of movement from the corner of her eye though she had to suppress a gasp of surprise. Descending from the ceiling was a metal grate covering from the opening to the air ducts.

It was suspended by a length of black ribbon that was looped around one of the bars. Looking up Weiss could see a pair of small pale hands slowly but steadily feeding more of the ribbon out of the duct, lowering the grate down. Stunned as she was, Weiss could only watch dumbly as her eyes followed the grate during it's descent.

Only once the corner of the metal covering tapped down on the ground did the sound it make finally jolt Weiss into action. Springing to her feet as quietly as she could Weiss scrambled forward to help ease the grate to the ground, making sure that it did not create any noise.

Her heart hammered within her chest. This was something unexpected, somebody here other than her kidnappers. This could be good.

After the grate was settled onto the ground one end of the ribbon came fluttering down after it. Much of the excess slack in the ribbon was pulled back up, but it stopped moving just as the end's tip left the ground.

"Climb up," hissed a voice quietly.

Looking up Weiss just managed to glimpse a flash of amber eyes in the opening before they retreated further back into the vent. Licking her dry lips she gently bit down on her lower lip, resisting the urge to voice a question or reply. Weiss really did not want to risk being overheard by the guards. Rushing forward she complied with the mysterious voice and grabbed the ribbon.

As light as she was given her small form, Weiss still normally would not have had the necessary strength to climb up a rope. Her adrenaline fueled desperation though certainly helped to make up for the lack of muscle. As the escaping prisoner climbed up, her rescuer was also helping by pulling it up from their end as well.

After what seemed like an eternity Weiss finally made it up to the top, her hands scrabbling to pull herself into the vents as another pair of hands helped her to do the same. Though she hadn't noticed it during the short climb the physical exertion had left her rather winded and gasping for breath. If not for the rattling of the metal ducts from the airflow through them Weiss was certain that her loud breathing would have been heard throughout the building.

When her heart had settled from an exhausted "thundering" to merely and adrenaline induced "racing", and her breathing came under control Weiss finally managed to muster up the strength to raise her head and look her saviour in the face. Curiously they had not made a single move in the time Weiss had taken to gather herself, only observing her silently.

Within the dark confines of the duct it was extremely hard to make out any details beyond the striking yellow eyes and what appeared to be black hair. It was obvious though that the other person in front of her was young, a girl about her own age, maybe a little older. Certainly not an adult, and certainly not someone her father would have sent. If she got her out of here though, then Weiss didn't care who had sent her or why she had come.

Still slightly panting, Weiss opened her mouth to speak. Before she could get a word out though, the other girl made the first move Weiss had seen since she had come up here. A single raised index finger was placed to Weiss's lips before moving back to her own. Be silent. Weiss frowned, but understood. They might still be heard.

Shifting uncomfortably, Weiss found that it was rather cramped up here. She barely had any room to move at all, and it looked even worse for the other girl who seemed to be a little bigger. When she suddenly started slowly moving backwards Weiss faintly noted that there literally was not even enough room to turn around. Taking care to keep her movements as quiet as possible Weiss crawled forwards as well, following the other's lead.

Weiss grimaced a little when she noticed how dusty and dirty these air ducts were. It probably would have been even worse for her though if the other girl weren't ahead of her clearing the path so to speak. It wasn't easy to stay quiet while moving through these things, but their already loud rattling helped to mask the noise that they made. As they passed by another grating, the voices of the guards drifted by.

"...Fenris..."

"...couple of hours. Then we can move the girl to a more secure location."

"Good. I'm getting tired of sitting out here. At least the heat's back on. Noisy as always."

"Better than..."

Neither of them stopped moving to listen further, so the voices faded as they continued moving past the grate. They were only in the ventilation system for a few minutes at most, but with how tense Weiss was it felt closer to an hour. The warm air blowing through and rattling the metal walls around them did not help matters at all. Passing by several twists, turns, and intersection Weiss had no idea where anything was. She just hoped that the girl with those bright amber eyes she had been following after had a better idea of these narrow tunnels than she did.

Finally, thankfully, mercifully, Weiss saw something different than the dull and dark metal insides of the ventilation system just past the other girl along with a cool breeze. Watching her disappear from view it seemed that there was a bit of a drop at the exit. Crawling forward Weiss was able to see that they were on the outside of the building, with the moon low on the horizon.

Looking down it took her a moment to find the other girl about ten feet down on the ground. The dark colours she wore blended in well with the night. Gesturing with a hand she was beckoning her forward with.

Pulling her upper body free from the shaft Weiss hesitated. Preferably she would go down feet first, but there was no room to turn herself around here, or anything outside to grab or hang onto before she dropped. When the black haired girl stretched out her arms as if to catch her though Weiss made up her mind and dropped out of the duct's opening.

Just a moment before she hit the ground Weiss managed to right herself in the air enough for the other girl to help catch her. Weiss just barely had a moment to gather herself and note that the black haired girl was taller than her before she grabbed her by the wrist and began to move.

"Come on," she whispered urgently. "We have to move."

* * *

'_What exactly did I sign up for?_' Blake thought to herself as she dashed out of another alley, hand still holding the wrist of the other girl who was following behind her.

She wouldn't be able to stay here, not anymore. Certainly not with the White Fang, and probably not in this area of town at all either. It wouldn't be too hard for Fenris and his cronies to put two and two together about who broke the human girl out. If so many people in the White Fang had indeed turned over to his way of thinking then it would not be safe for her to stick around any longer. Not with how far they were apparently willing to go judging by the state of this girl behind her.

Blake grimaced slightly as she heard the heavy breathing behind her. As soon as they got out of the building she had grabbed the other girl and immediately started running. A quick stop was made to grab the backpack she had left hidden a block away, it certainly would not have fit within the ducts. Since then she had been simply sprinting as fast as she could with the girl in tow, trying to put some distance behind them.

From what the two faunus in the building had said, it was likely that the others would come back soon to move the girl. They had needed to get away as quickly as possible, before somebody checked in on her and realized she was no longer in the room. Depending on whether or not the guards decided to check on their prisoner themselves, they might only have a couple of minutes in a worst case scenario before they would have pursuers on their heels. The _best_ case scenario would be them not noticing until Fenris returned in a couple of hours and they would have _him_ trying to track them down.

Although Blake herself was breathing a little harder than normal, the little girl sounded like she might collapse at any moment. They really didn't have the luxury to be wasting time, but if the girl collapsed from exhaustion, that certainly wouldn't be helping matters wither. Making a decision Blake turned, pulling the heavily panting girl behind her into the backyard of a rundown looking old house through a broken gap in the fence.

Letting the other girl go Blake went to go sit with her back to the fence as the human practically collapsed to the ground. Finally having the time, space, and lighting to inspect her up close, Blake took the opportunity to do just that.

The most immediately striking feature of her was the long white hair. It was a rather unusual colour, something one would normally associate with age, but the girl was obviously far from old. For one thing she was far too small for that, she surely had to be younger than Blake's own eleven years of age. She was just a kid. Looking at the white hair a little longer though Blake decided that it actually looked rather pretty on the girl.

Her choice of attire was the next thing Blake's eyes were drawn to. A rather simple white dress and matching white sandals. Neither looked like things meant to be worn outside at this time of year, it was a tad too chilly for them to be comfortable. Simple as her clothing might have been, and smudged as it was from their time in the vents, Blake could still tell that they were of rather high quality. She must have come from a rich family, an influential family. It was something which would fit with Blake's theory as to why the girl was kidnapped.

In her inspection of the girl Blake failed to notice when she had recovered her breath enough to begin inspecting her back in turn.

"...You're a faunus."

Blake flinched slightly. Of course. In the hectic pace of their escape and the darkness of the ventilation shafts it was likely the first time that the human girl had noticed her ears.

While she couldn't exactly say that she appreciated her faunus nature being the first thing brought up, Blake couldn't exactly blame the human either given the nature of her kidnappers. If the reasons she suspected that the girl was taken were true, then it was likely that her family would not have had a very pro-faunus attitude either. She decided to just play it by ear.

"Yes. I am." There was no reason, or even the possibility really, for her to lie. "My name is Blake."

The girl studied her face for another few seconds before looking to the side. "...Weiss," she mumbled. "Thank you."

Not a bad reaction all things considered.

Blake smiled at her but didn't offer a verbal response. When she had went to look the girl- Weiss, in the eyes though during that exchange, Blake could not help but notice the things that she had been trying to avoid. Her injuries.

The bandage around the girl's eye seemed to be wrapped well enough, though she could see a hint of blood leaking through to the surface. Glancing down at Weiss's bare arms and legs a number of cuts were littered across them. The blood was dried, but they were obviously still recent. Briefly, she felt a surge of anger. Why? What purpose did they serve? Calming herself down Blake took off her bag and began to look through her backpack once more, coming out with a first aid kit. Opening it she grabbed a few items before approaching Weiss cautiously, holding out a bottle and a small clean cloth.

"Weiss," Blake started off, waiting to catch her attention before continuing. "Do you remember if they cleaned off your eye before bandaging it?" There was a pause from Weiss, one that Blake was becoming quickly familiar with before she gave a hesitant nod of confirmation.

"Well that's good. I'm still going to have to clean your wounds. It would be better if they didn't get infected." Weiss turned to look at her again for a moment, considering, before murmuring something that Blake hoped was a word of consent.

When Weiss didn't say anything further or move to turn away, Blake moved in closer and squatted down next to her. Still observing the quiet girl for any reaction she started pouring some of the liquid from the bottle into the cloth and reached out towards the first cut, one of the smaller ones on her leg. "This might sting a little."

Upon contact with her skin Weiss visibly flinched and stiffened. A small sound of pain issued from her throat before it was stubbornly cut off.

Regardless, Blake pulled the cloth back, gaining a bit of a worried look on her face. "Are you okay?" When Weiss nodded after a second Blake carefully returned to her task.

Blake tried to clean it off as thoroughly as she could, trusting the disinfectant to do it's job, but she could still see Weiss visibly wincing every so often. After she felt that this particular cut was cleaned off as best she could do under the current circumstances Blake grabbed the small box she had taken out of her bag and removed a sufficiently large bandaid which she applied to the cut.

Almost immediately after it was placed on her one of Weiss's hands reached out to brush against it. Looking up Blake saw an odd expression on the little girl's face. Wonderment perhaps? Not quite. Delight maybe? A little closer, but it didn't quite seem to fit under the current circumstances. Whatever it was, the cat faunus could feel a small twitch at the corner of her lips at the somewhat childlike reaction to the bandaid.

Over the next few minutes the two sat in silence as Blake continued to take care of Weiss's wounds with rather practiced hands. She didn't carry around these things without having reason or knowledge to use them. Blake wiped and disinfected the wounds trying to be as gently as possible, applying bandaids to what she could in order to see the rather interesting look Weiss would get, and using actual bandages on what was too large for a band-aid.

As Blake did her work, Weiss's eyes seemed to trail after her from bandaid to bandage, hands brushing against them absently. When Blake finally finished with all the wounds that she could see, she sat back as she thought of what to do next.

"Do...do you want me to take you to a police station?" Blake asked softly.

It was the logical next step. They would figure out where to take Weiss, and perhaps arrest those responsible for taking her. With what they had done, those misguided members of the White Fang would have deserved any jail time coming to them, as Fenris certainly would.

"I'm sure the police could help get you back to your family."

To Blake's surprise though Weiss reacted rather negatively to the idea. Blue eyes widened in shock as she actually flinched backwards as her head began to shake vigorously. "No!"

"Why not?" Blake asked as gently as she could. She reached forward to lay a comforting hand on Weiss's shoulder. "I'm sure your parents must be very worried."

At the mention of parents Weiss flinched almost violently backwards. Her left hand then reached up to clutch at her bandaged eye as she seemed to almost curl in on herself. "No." She was a little quieter this time. "Father, he- he..."

A sinking feeling came into Blake's stomach as her eyes widened slightly. From Weiss's reaction certain thoughts came to mind. She hoped that she was mistaken. "Weiss. Your injuries..." Blake started before trailing off. Grimacing again she narrowed her eyes and forced herself to continue. "How did you get them? Was it from the people who took you?"

Weiss grew very still for a moment at Blake's question. Then her head shook slowly as she began to speak rather shakily. "No...not them. Father...he said- he said that I wasn't worthy. Of the Schnee name." Her downturned head left a curtain of somewhat dirtied white hair that did rather well in obscuring her face. But the trembles that had begun to shake her small body told more than enough by themselves.

Meanwhile Blake's eyes had gone wide again. A Schnee! No wonder Fenris had taken her. Weiss was _Weiss Schnee_, daughter of the head of the Schnee Dust Company, making her the heiress. Her identity helped a few things click into place. A second later, the implications from what the rest of what Weiss said sunk in. Her mouth opened silently as though to say something before closing again without words. Fenris and the White Fang hadn't been the ones to harm her.

Blake teeth came down upon her lower lip hard enough to draw blood as her fists clenched in anger. While on one hand, she was thankful that it had not been her former comrades to do this, the alternative it turned out, was much much worse.

Schnee, a name belonging to a man almost universally hated amongst faunus for his despicable treatment of their race. Blake had thought that he was just another bigoted faunus hater like so many others. Just one with more power and influence than most. But apparently that wasn't the case.

Weiss Schnee. Except, apparently, not a Schnee anymore. That man's own flesh and blood, just a child, and yet he had judged her unworthy of being Schnee. Even more, he had hurt Weiss, _his own daugher_, and had shed her blood. Furthermore, judging by her relatively fresh wounds, and that Fenris had managed to get to her but not him, then he must even have cast her out, vulnerable and without protection. That man's cruelty knew no bounds. If he could even be called a man.

Suddenly Weiss looked up again, eyes whipping up to look into Blake's eyes. "It wasn't his fault though! He didn't mean it! I'm sure!" Weiss looked away again. "He was just in a bad mood," she mumbled with her face and tone seeming rather contrary to her previously voiced surety. "I shouldn't have bothered him."

Hearing Weiss's words Blake's righteous anger was quickly drowned out by her sudden sense of _horror_. Was she defending him? Making excuses for her father hurting her? A strangled whine wormed it's way out of the back of Blake's throat as her heart broke for the little girl. When Weiss looked like she was moving to speak again Blake rushed to interrupt before she could start.

"Shhh, shhh." Blake whispered with her voice shaky. She reached out again to put a finger on Weiss's lips as she had before.

"Blake, I..." Weiss started before trailing off with her lips trembling. Her eyes seemed to be silently pleading, communicating some message to Blake that she couldn't quite put into words.

"It's okay, you're okay. You don't have to go back, not if you don't want to." Blake moved in closer to pull Weiss in against her own body. Running a shaky hand along Weiss's back Blake heard a shuddering sob as her own eyes began to water.

Blake wasn't sure what she could do. Not for something like this. But having done what she had to get Weiss away from Fenris, Blake certainly wasn't going to just send her back to being a victim of her own father.

"I won't let him hurt you. I'll make sure you never get hurt by a Schnee ever again."

* * *

**Author's Note**

**Hehe, ventilation system cliche. They're both still pretty small though, and it wasn't too roomy, so I figured I could get away with it.**

**As you can probably see, the relationship between Weiss and Blake here is probably gonna be pretty different from canon. Blake has quite a bit more sympathy for Weiss plus perhaps some feelings of protectiveness. Weiss also has a lot less reason to be arrogant plus a lot of gratitude towards Blake. Blake herself is probably gonna act pretty close to how she is normally, but Weiss will certainly be a lot different. Weiss will probably still have bratty moments though. I mean, she's just not Weiss if she isn't being a little shit every now and then.**

**From Blake's perspective you can see that she's misunderstanding a few things. With how tiny Weiss is, Blake is under the initial impression that Weiss is younger. She also thought at first that it was the White Fang who had injured her only to be corrected that it was her father. With how vague Weiss was on that subject Blake's mind is conjuring up all sorts of horrible scenarios far worse than what actually happened. Some of what Weiss said was _technically_ true, not that it really makes her father any less of an asshole. From Blake's perspective though, it just sounds really horrifying hearing Weiss (Who she thinks is like nine) defend an abusive father who has apparently disowned her.**


	3. Silent Comforts

**Author's Note**

**As you may have noticed, the cover picture has now changed. Angie did me the favour of drawing another picture specifically for this story :D. You should all go look at her art. All of it. Angie is the best.**

* * *

**Chapter 3 - Silent Comforts**

It was strange, Blake had been thinking. That is, it was rather strange just how protective she found herself feeling of this girl she had only just met tonight. In addition to the short amount of time they had known each other was also just how different the two were.

She was a faunus while Weiss was a human. Even more than that Weiss was a daughter born to the Schnee name, a heritage that would make her almost universally reviled amongst faunus kind just by virtue of existing. Right now though, Blake didn't see any of that.

Weiss was young, scared, and alone. Fenris and his cronies had taken her away from the safety and shelter she had likely known all her life. Blake quickly found herself grimacing for what felt like the hundredth time that night as she had to revise that last thought. Safety from outside dangers at least, if not from those within.

Her own father had evidently abused her. The fact that Weiss had attempted to defend him despite what he had done did not in fact say anything good about him. If anything, it did quite the opposite actually. Seeing this, how could Blake possibly blame the girl for the things done by the Schnee company? Logically, she was too young to have been responsible for anything anyway. No, the one responsible for the pain and oppression of so many of her fellow faunus was the same monster that had been the one to hurt Weiss as well.

"Come on Weiss, we should go now," Blake murmured finally, pulling away slightly from the smaller girl.

She felt a little bad about making Weiss run so hard before, and was sorry that she couldn't give her a longer break either. Right now though, they really could not afford to stay still for very long.

"Okay." Weiss's voice sounded a little raw. Rubbing a little at her slightly reddened eyes she got back to her feet.

Taking Weiss by the hand, Blake gently led her back out through the fence and the two resumed their escape, albeit at a bit more of a sedate pace. It was obvious that Weiss was not used to particularly strenuous activity. They had covered some good ground earlier, and there weren't any signs of pursuers yet. For Weiss's sake, they could probably afford going a little bit slower now.

Just a couple of minutes down the street Blake's ears twitched as she heard an approaching noise. At first she was alarmed enough for her heart to skip a beat, thinking that they had been found far sooner than she had thought. As the familiar rumble continued though the momentary panic subsided before she had a chance to curse herself for slowing down as Blake recognized what it was. Taking a quick glance up the street away from the sound Blake quickly saw what she was looking for.

"Come on," Blake repeated, urging Weiss with a light tug on her arm to speed up a bit.

They sped up to a bit of a brisk jog, but only for a short while since they actually did not end up moving very far at all. Shortly after crossing the street they stopped near the beginning of the next block next to a pole. Blake pulled off her backpack, setting it on the ground so she could start rooting through it. Curiously, Weiss looked up the nearby pole, finding a sign on top of it. According to the sign it seemed that this was a bus stop.

Turning to face back down the street Weiss saw the lone bus driving slowly down the street. With its large moving body and noisy engine the bus alone contrasted sharply with the stillness of the silent buildings lining the road. At the same time though it also managed to feel so very appropriate in the setting.

By the time the bus had finally reach them and come to a stop Blake was already shrugging her pack back on with some things now in hand. Blake wasted no time in getting up onto the bus, pulling Weiss in behind her. She quickly deposited a single slightly grungy bus ticket she had found some time ago into the farebox along with a handful of coins before leading Weiss with her deeper into the bus. The bus driver had barely glanced at them longer than necessary to see that they had paid before turning back to the road.

Just as Blake expected.

She was sure that between the grime covering the both of them from the air ducts and Weiss's injuries they must have made quite the curious sight. It was not the good sort of curious though. Rather, it was the sort of thing that spoke of trouble, the kind of trouble that most people chose to avoid involving themselves in.

Looking over the empty bus it seemed that they had a completely free choice of seating. Blake chose to sit further back, away from the driver lest they be overheard. An advertisement of some sort also stretched across the back bus windows which would hide them from anyone looking in.

Looking upon a pair of seats she had finally settled upon Blake hesitated for a moment unsure if Weiss would prefer the outside or inside. Her dilemma was solved for her when the small girl moved in first, pulling Blake after her instead of the other way around for once.

Being able to get on the bus was a lucky break. This bus route headed almost in a straight line out of the area before making a few turns later on. It would move much faster than they would be capable of on foot, especially Weiss, and anybody following them would be unlikely to catch up. They would be able to ride this further away and find a place to lay low for a while. Blake actually had just the spot in mind.

Glancing back at Weiss sitting beside her Blake was suddenly struck by just how out of her depth she was. For most of her life Blake had had to look out for herself and herself alone. She had not had anybody to take care of her, but neither had she had to look after anyone else either.

Just how young was Weiss anyway? Even if Blake felt she was probably the older of the two that wasn't saying much as she was only eleven. Not exactly someone with the experience necessary to be raising someone else. Furthermore, despite whatever...difficulties, that may have plagued the younger girl's home life, as a Schnee she likely had a certain standard of living she was used to. Blake was hardly in a position to be providing something beyond the bare necessities, if even that.

No matter what misgivings Blake may have had about the future of this situation though, her resolve did not waver in the slightest. Still watching Weiss her eyes were inevitably drawn again to the girl's injuries which were still not something she could simply ignore. Sending her home knowing full well the things that might happen to her there was not something that she would be able to do. Blake had sworn to protect her, and she would stand by her word.

When Weiss began to squirm though, Blake realized that she had been staring at the girl without speaking for perhaps a bit longer than was comfortably appropriate. Feeling a little embarrassed she turned her gaze aside for a moment and began to wrack her brains for something to say.

"S-so!" said Blake facing Weiss once more, mentally cursing herself for the stutter. Weiss turned to look curiously at her. "Do you have any hobbies?" That was a nice, safe, and innocuous topic that would work for small talk, right?

Weiss blinked in surprise at the rather sudden, and out of place, line of questioning. It took her a a couple of seconds to think of something. "...I liked to sing."

"Singing. That's nice." Blake felt painfully out of her comfort zone. She was not used to conversing like this with people younger than her. When Weiss kept staring at her Blake felt another bit of embarrassment as she realized that it was her turn to contribute to the conversation. "I like to read. Books...books are a great way to immerse yourself into another world."

With a little imagination books could take you to the most wonderful of places. As many different places as there were stories. Sometimes it was nice to be able to escape from reality for a little while.

It also helped that books were a relatively cheap form of entertainment, though she didn't say that aloud to Weiss. They didn't require anything beyond the book itself unlike things such as television or video games. Blake could also sometimes get older books for free that were slated to be cast out anyway at book stores. Libraries were also of course a favoured place to spend time for her.

Lost on her train of thought it had again taken Blake a moment to realize the implications of something Weiss had said. "...Liked?" Not like. Past tense.

Weiss looked away a little uncomfortably. "I always liked to sing, but father...he said that if I were to sing, I should at least do it properly." A small scowl. "Singing wasn't fun anymore with all the voice coaches."

Blake winced.

Great going Belladonna, you hit another sensitive topic already.

She placed her hand on top of Weiss's and leaned gently against her, finding herself relieved when the tension in the small body next to her seemed to soften. As much as it surprised Blake how quickly she had taken to Weiss, it was equally surprising if not more so how easily the other girl had seemingly done the same. Weiss was surprisingly open, and trusting, with someone she had barely known for longer than a couple of hours. Words weren't even necessary when comforting her anymore.

Her thoughts wandered back towards the Schnee patriarch. Was it because of him? If all it took was the bits of kindness and decency Blake had shown towards Weiss so far to earn her trust, then that did not speak good things of her upbringing by her father's hand yet again.

The two lapsed back into silence for a while. Thankfully the silence was at least not awkward or uncomfortable. They were too at ease with each others' presence for that. Blake did however still have things she wanted to know, and wasn't quite sure how to approach the topics after her previous failure at small talk. Eventually though, something else broke the silence for her, a low but audible grumble coming from beside her.

Looking at Weiss again she saw the young girl looking somewhat embarrassed, refusing to meet her eyes. Her hunched over posture and the arms around her stomach though made it quite clear what Blake had just heard. Wordlessly, she searched through her backpack once again for something.

"Here," Blake said simply as she handed a couple of granola bars to Weiss. Hesitant blue eyes flickered between the bars and Blake. Smiling reassuringly at Weiss again Blake pushed the bars a little closer towards her. "You're hungry right? I know it's not much, but why don't you have these for now?"

Biting her lip Weiss continued to just look between Blake and the offered items for another few seconds. The faunus girl just continued to smile softly and did not move her hand. When another quiet growl sounded was when Weiss finally gave in and took the two bars with a mumbled thanks.

At first Weiss examined the packaging of the bars for several seconds looking a little puzzled. Clearly she was unfamiliar with them. It did not take very long though before she figured out how to tear them open and began taking several tentative nibbles.

Either Weiss found them to be satisfactory or was hungry enough to not care because she very quickly moved from nibbles to larger bites. With the ice effectively broken again, Blake decided to take another chance at asking her companion a question that had been nagging at her for some time.

"Weiss." Hearing her name the other girl made a sound of acknowledgement, but didn't turn to look at her this time. "How old are you?"

"Eleven," Weiss said in between bites.

Blake blinked. What?

"I'm sorry. I must have misheard. Could you please repeat tat?" Blake asked politely.

"Eleven."

"No way." No way. There was simply no way.

Weiss finally turned back to look at her just as she finished off the last of the bars. A small frown was present on her features this time. "What? What do you mean 'no way'? I'm eleven!" she insisted.

"You're too small to be eleven!" Blake blurted out incredulously. "I'm eleven! You look like you're eight. Nine at most." Almost as soon as Blake had voiced her thoughts she regretted doing so. It was kind of rude, and the last thing she wanted to do right now was hurt Weiss's feelings or start an argument on top of everything else.

Weiss though seemed to look more shocked than offended at first as she gaped openly at Blake though that only lasted a couple of seconds. "That's impossible! You're too big to be the same as age me!" She sounded rather indignant about it. "You have to be at least thirteen." Weiss counter argued.

Taken aback Blake blinked and when her lips twitched she had to stop herself from breaking into a sudden smile. So Weiss had a bit of fire in her after all it seemed. Perhaps the other girl was not quite as fragile as she had initially thought. This was the most animated Blake had seen of Weiss so far. She was actually rather interested in what would happen if she prodded a little more.

"Is the only justification you have for that my relation to your own size?" Blake tried to sound nonchalant as she spoke, as if she were not really taking Weiss's claims seriously at all. "I've seen other people around this age. As far as I can tell, I'm of a fairly normal height for an eleven-year-old." Smirking openly now she placed a hand upon Weiss's head. "If you really are the age you say, then you are quite short for our age."

The more diminutive of the two was less amused than Blake was. Scowling, Weiss said, "I am a perfectly normal height for my age thank you very much." Huffing, she crossed her arms and turned away. "You are simply abnormally tall."

Interestingly enough, at no point was any attempt made by Weiss to remove Blake's hand. Still smiling, Blake lightly tousled Weiss's hair earning her another small angry noise before returning her hand to her lap.

Blake decided that there wasn't really any reason Weiss would lie about her age. Her reactions seemed genuine enough as well. Personally though, she still harboured a few doubts. The girl was just _so small_. She knew it was perhaps a bit unfair, but she simply couldn't see Weiss as being the same age as her.

At least Weiss seemed to be holding up better than she had initially thought. Blake found that she actually also rather enjoyed the other girl's company.

Maybe this wouldn't be so bad after all.

* * *

They spent a rather long time on the bus. Weiss felt it must have been close to an hour, with few twists or turns. She didn't mind though. As far as she was concerned, the more distance between her and those awful people the better. It sure beat running too.

Once they had gotten off the bus, stopping to watch it drive off, the two started walking again. Without the worry of someone being right on their tail the two of them moved at a much more sedate pace this time.

Unlike the more industrial sector they were in earlier, the buildings they passed by walking here were smaller houses and apartment buildings as opposed to the larger warehouses and factories from before. What was similar though was the rather run down state of everything. This was not an area of town that Weiss would normally be comfortable in at all. The complete lack of people actually only served to make it feel all the more unsettling. Suffice it to say, Weiss stuck very closely to Blake's side.

Blake eventually led them away from the main street, turning into a smaller neighbourhood. Walking off the sidewalk they approached the side fence separating two small houses. With a simple flip of a latch the girls found themselves in a backyard for the second time that night. From the deteriorated appearance of the area it was clear that either nobody had lived here for some time or that they cared very little for the conditions of their property.

Following Blake up the steps onto the deck towards the sliding glass backdoor Weiss wondered what she was going to do. It seemed fairly obvious to her that the faunus had brought them here specifically, likely with the intention of taking shelter inside the house. They hadn't gone in through the front door though, and the back door appeared to only lock from the inside.

Was she planning on breaking the door? Given that it was made of glass, it probably would not be too hard. The sound that it would make though would draw unwanted attention. Not to mention Weiss herself felt a little uncomfortable at the thought of destroying private property. All this trespassing was already making her uneasy as it was.

It turned out thought that Blake had a much more elegant solution.

Weiss blinked. "How...?" In the few seconds she had spent thinking Blake had somehow managed to slide open the door without a sound and was now standing inside with the lights on. Surprising that a place such as this still had power.

"Bad lock design," Blake explained simply. "Look." She gestured for Weiss to come closer and pointed at the lock. "On the wall where the door rests when closed is this sort of hook here, see?" Blake's finger moved to point at a mechanism inside a small hole in the door level with the previously mentioned hook. "When you turn the lock on the door itself it lowers this piece here."

She took a moment to look more closely at the lock's components as Blake had invited her to do. Weiss eyed the hook as she stepped inside the house to turn the lock on the door. When the door was slid shut then the hook would enter the hole in its side. The turning of the lock caused a bolt to lower down over the hook preventing the door from sliding horizontally, and Weiss proceeded to do just that. Knowing how the lock worked though still didn't explain how Blake had managed to open the door.

"Look," said Blake as she grabbed a hold of the handle without unlocking the door first. Bracing her other hand underneath it she pushed up on the door lifting it slightly off the ground and surprisingly proceeded to slide it open as if it were not locked at all.

"But how?" Weiss asked again still confused. Blake smiled at her puzzlement.

"The hole where it locks is too large," Blake began explaining. "And there's extra space above the door. Enough to lift it slightly. It's quite easy to simply lift the locking bolt right over the hook it's supposed to be secured against."

With her explanation done, Blake moved away from the door, allowing Weiss a chance to try. As Weiss tried opening and closing the door without unlocking it, the other girl had gone to grab something from the corner. After Weiss had closed the door once more, she looked to the side upon seeing Blake kneeling down in the corner of her eye. In the other girl's hands was what seemed like a simple block of wood, or perhaps a plank given it's length. Blake was wedging it in the tracks between the door and the far wall.

"You can't open the door if there's no room for it to move."

That made sense to Weiss. A rather crude, but simple solution to the problem. Certainly knowing that nobody else would be able to get into the house after them as easily as they did made her feel a little safer than she would have otherwise.

It was quite clear by now that the house was empty. If anyone were here, then they would likely have come already. After all, given how small the house was, all their fiddling with the door should have been heard by anyone inside. Knowing this, Weiss was not particularly concerned when Blake walked in further, disappearing into one of the rooms.

Looking around at her surroundings only confirmed her thoughts that nobody had lived here for some time. There was a fairly significant layer of dust covering every surface, a stark contrast to the immaculate surfaces of any of the Schnee properties she was used to. The immediate area was rather open, with what appeared to be a kitchen to her left, and an open space to the right. As far as Weiss could tell the place here was also almost entirely bare of furnishings, perhaps the area to the right was originally a living room of some sort when there had been furniture. Now at least, it was just a very empty place.

Standing here now with her eyes still dully scanning over the house's interior, Weiss was finally struck by just how tired she felt. A little belatedly she also realized just how much she had been running on auto pilot for the last little while. How long ago was it that she was safe at home within her room? It felt like a lifetime ago now to her with all that had happened, but in reality it was only a matter of hours. By now the adrenaline of her escape had long since worn off. All that was left was just a deep exhaustion.

"Weiss, come on in here," said Blake. Her voice carried well enough from the other room even at a normal volume given how small the area was.

Blinking, it actually took Weiss a second to register Blake's comment as she slowly shuffled towards the room she was in. Pushing aside the already ajar door she stepped inside to what appeared to be a small bedroom. Blake was just finishing spreading out and dusting off a blanket on top of a small bed when she turned to the doorway upon hearing Weiss's entrance.

"Weiss. You can sleep here for tonight."

At this point, Weiss did not exactly have the will to argue, nor any particular reason she would want to. Walking up next to the bed Weiss kicked off her shoes before climbing silently onto the bed. Tiredly she crawled under the blankets, her head emerging only to flop onto the pillow.

Both the small somewhat lumpy bed and the thin rough material of the blanket were a far cry from the luxuriously expensive beds and silken sheets she was used to. But given the circumstances, Weiss was not about to complain about something so petty to Blake. She was simply glad to have the chance to lie down.

Hearing the sound of the door moving Weiss pushed herself back up into a sitting position, eyes immediately locking onto the back of her companion.

"Blake? Wh-where are you going?" Weiss reprimanded herself in her mind for the stutter and trace of fear in her voice. She'd been taught that Schnee were not to show weakness. Again her mind caught up to the rest of her thoughts a little late as she remembered her father's words and felt another pang in her chest. That's right, she wasn't worthy to be a Schnee.

"Don't worry Weiss," Blake said with a smile. How peculiar it was that already that smile was fast becoming something that instantly seemed to soothe Weiss's nerves. "I'll still be in the house, after all, I need to sleep too right? With how small that bed is though, I thought I'd let you have it to yourself."

Hearing Blake's explanation the tension in Weiss's shoulders dissolved as she eased back slightly into bed. Hesitantly she gave a nod which Blake returned as she slid out the door, turning off the lights and shutting the door behind her. Weiss hadn't exactly gotten the tour of this place earlier, so she just assumed that there must have been another bedroom that Blake had perhaps retired to.

With Blake gone Weiss was now left by herself in this unfamiliar room. Dim moonlight still came in through the window and tattered curtains, but the effect was more eery than anything else. Closing her eyes Weiss settled in to try and sleep.

It was not to much effect.

She didn't know how long she ended up laying there for, but sleep was something that ended up eluding Weiss. As tired as she may have been, it seemed that the moment she had gotten the chance to slow down and decompress a flood of thoughts began to run through her mind.

Weiss may have been young, but that did not mean she was stupid. Similarly, being sheltered did not necessarily equate to naivety. They did mean that she was inexperienced in a lot of things, true, but Weiss nevertheless was discerning enough to understand her current situation quite well.

As the Schnee heiress Weiss had been someone important. Given how little time her father had had for her, she instead was provided with almost any material comforts to placate her in lieu of him actually spending time with her. It also goes without saying that she had never once had to worry about such basic things as food or shelter. It was a secure and comfortable life.

This was would no longer be the case.

Nothing had been said out loud or discussed between the two on the subject, but it was clear that Blake's life was far from her own previous situation. Of course there was no way Weiss could know for certain quite what life is like for Blake, she simply didn't have the experiences necessary to truly imagine it. But she was smart enough to at least guess.

Weiss was incredibly grateful to Blake though of course. She wasn't going to complain or be ungrateful. Still, it was quite clear that she wouldn't have anywhere close to as comfortable a life as she had before.

But the thing was, Weiss didn't think she cared.

The kidnapping and her temporary captivity had been fairly frightening of course. But after escaping, when she looked back on it, it was like something out of a story in retrospect. Truth be told, while it may be a bit childish, Weiss secretly though this was all a little exciting. That's not to say though that she did not also feel some trepidation about what life was like as something closer to a street urchin compared to the privileged life she had before.

None of these thoughts were helping her sleep. However many minutes later it was now than when she had first gotten into bed and Weiss was no closer to sleep.

Opening her eyes Weiss was greeted with the same moonlit view of this strange and unfamiliar room. Turning her head she could faintly see out the window through the thin curtains where there appeared to be the moving shadow of what was likely a tree. It did little to comfort her.

Sitting up Weiss look at the door, clutching the thin blanket tight around her small frame. This was the first time in a long time that Weiss had really felt like she was completely by herself. Normally she could be assured of the presence of a multitude of servants or bodyguards in the vicinity. When she was kidnapped, there were the guards. And then after that, all the way to the house, there was Blake. Intellectually she knew that Blake should still be nearby, but this empty room unnerved her.

Swinging her legs off the side of the bed Weiss lowered her feet to the floor. If she wasn't going to be getting any sleep in here, she might as well go find Blake at least to settle her nerves. Still bundled within the blankets Weiss decided to take it with her as it was somewhat drafty in the building. The pillow was held tightly within her grasp as well as it had also absorbed a significant amount of body heat in the time she had been using it. Weiss did her best to bunch the blankets up higher than her body lest it drag on the floor which was not exactly clean, a reason she also made sure to locate her shoes before leaving the room.

When Weiss entered the hall she made sure to turn around and shut the door behind her out of force of habit. It was not something she would have seen, but nearby a pair of cat ears atop the head of a certain faunus twitched at the sounds.

It would have made sense to start opening doors and begin checking out the other rooms in the hall if Blake was sleeping in another room. For some reason though, Weiss felt compelled to instead return back towards where they had entered from. When Weiss looked upon the same area she had been observing earlier, there was a noticeable difference in the space across from the kitchen. Blake was lying on the floor, seemingly asleep on her side with her back currently facing towards Weiss.

Needless to say, Weiss was rather surprised. Was there not another bed in the house like she had thought? If Blake was sleeping on the floor, then that was indeed probably the case. Immediately, Weiss was struck by a feeling of guilt.

Blake had allowed her the use of the only bed . She didn't even have a blanket. This was only the latest of the many things Blake had done for her in the short time they had known each other. Blake had rescued her, had comforted her, shared her food with her, and now was sheltering her. None of those things could have been easy to do for Blake who did not seem to have much to her name to begin with.

Yet she had done it anyway.

Already Blake had done so much for her, been so kind to her, despite having no reason to do so. Never before had Weiss felt so appreciated. It was nice. And yet, never before had Weiss felt like such a burden either.

It wasn't until she heard the sound of her own sniffling that Weiss realized she was crying again. She seemed to be doing that a lot today. Furiously rubbing at her eyes she forced herself to stop.

Making sure to stay as quiet as possible Weiss moved closer to Blake. Unwrapping the blankets from around her own shoulders she carefully laid it over the other girl's form, careful not to disturb her. She would have liked to have brought Blake back to the bed, but she also didn't want to have to wake her up.

Afterwards Weiss knelt there for a moment, indecisive. She was conflicted between returning to the bed on her own, or staying here with Blake. If she returned to bed, her attempts of reaching sleep likely would not go much better than they did before. But she also did not want to intrude if she stayed, not when Blake had done so much for her already.

Guilty as she felt, eventually her desire to stay won out. Setting her pillow down next to Blake, Weiss laid down next to her, scooting underneath the blanket. Back to back the two now laid on the floor with a bit of space still in between them.

Weiss could not directly feel Blake's touch, wary of overstepping personal boundaries more than she already had. The feel of the blanket suspended between the two of them instead of simply draping down over her back though assured her of Blake's presence. And that comforted her greatly.

This time when Weiss closed her eyes the call of sleep came much more easily.

At best, Weiss had only known Blake for perhaps half a day. Despite that though, she really liked Blake a lot. Being around her gave Weiss a sense of comfort she hadn't felt from anyone since her mother had died and her father had stopped being a father.

Weiss wondered. Is this what it was like to have a friend?

* * *

**Author's Note**

**It's taken three chapters to finish the first night, but the first night is pretty important. Future chapters will probably cover more time in less words. I do need this story to get places without taking eons after all. It's still probably like at least chapter 10 or so before Ruby and Yang though.**

**Weiss is smart, but still kinda childish given her upbringing. Blake is definitely the more experienced/mature of the two. Also, tiny Weiss is best Weiss. Blake is a fairly normal size for their age, Weiss just has no frame of reference for the height of an average eleven year old other than her own tiny self.**

**That backdoor is in fact a total insert of my own backdoor, shitty lock and all. I didn't even know how shitty and easy to get around it was for years. It is now wedged shut though whenever it's not open, so good luck trying to get in if you manage to find me :P.**

**Please remember to leave a review on your way out. We authors live off of knowing people enjoy our work.**


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